World Briefs

June 19, 2006

TENNISFederer equals Borg's grass-court record Roger Federer won his fourth consecutive title at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany and tied Bjorn Borg's record of 41 straight grass-court wins with a 6-0, 6-7 (4), 6-2 victory Sunday over fifth-seeded Tomas Berdych. Federer tied Borg's record, set between 1976 and 1981, while playing in his ninth final in nine tournaments in 2006. He became the Halle tournament's only four-time winner. Federer, beaten in the French Open title match a week earlier by Rafael Nadal, was the first Roland Garros finalist to reach the championship round in Halle since former No. 1 Yevgeny Kafelnikov in 1996. Hewitt turns back Blake for title Lleyton Hewitt defeated American James Blake 6-4, 6-4 Sunday to win the grass-court championship at the Queen's Club tournament. The eighth-seeded Australian, who won three straight titles at the Wimbledon warmup from 2000-2002, joined John McEnroe and Boris Becker as four-time winners. "This is fantastic. It's just great to get back in the winner's circle," said Hewitt, who earned his first title since capturing the Sydney event in January 2005. "I lost a tough match to James in the final of Las Vegas earlier this year and I knew I was going to have to step it up even another notch from how I played yesterday against Tim (Henman), and I was able to do that.'' In the second set, Blake made a forehand error to give Hewitt a decisive break for 4-3. "He played great," said Blake, who lost his only previous grass-court final, to Taylor Dent at Newport in 2002. "He served great, didn't make a lot of mistakes. There's a reason he's a four-time champion.'' COLLEGE BASKETBALLUCLA guard Farmar to remain in NBA draft UCLA guard Jordan Farmar confirmed his decision to remain in the NBA draft Sunday, a move that will split up the Bruins' backcourt duo of Farmar and Arron Afflalo. Afflalo announced Saturday that he had withdrawn his name from the June 28 draft. He did not hire an agent, so he will return for his junior season. The deadline to withdraw was Sunday. "It was really tough. It went down to the wire," Farmar said. "There were so many positives both ways." Farmar said he plans to hire an agent within days. He worked out for five NBA teams, including Sacramento and New Jersey. Gray to stay at Pitt, skip NBA draft All-Big East center Aaron Gray will skip the NBA draft and return to Pitt for his senior season, a decision that could make the Panthers the conference favorite going into next season. The 7-foot Gray had an excellent junior season, his first as a starter, averaging 13.9 points and a conference-leading 10.5 rebounds on a team that had a surprisingly good 25-8 record. Gray declared for the NBA draft April 27, but did not hire an agent. That meant he could work out for NBA teams, but retain his college eligibility if he changed his mind -- much as Pitt guard Carl Krauser did before returning for his senior season last year. Gray was in Orlando, Fla., during last week's pre-draft NBA camp, but staged only a private workout. Because of his lack of speed and the fact that he has played only one college season as a starter, Gray was seen as a possible late first-round pick. "My options were to play my senior year and graduate from the University of Pittsburgh or play in the NBA," Gray said in a statement issued Sunday by the school. "This decision will allow me to achieve both goals. I'm looking forward to continuing the success that we've established at Pitt and finishing my career." Gray's return means that coach Jamie Dixon will return eight of his top 10 players from a team that advanced to the Big East championship game, the fifth time in six seasons Pitt has done so. CYCLINGJan Ullrich wins Tour de Suisse Jan Ullrich won the Tour de Suisse in Bern, Switzerland on Sunday with a commanding victory in the final stage's time trial, overcoming yellow jersey holder Koldo Gil Perez of Spain. Ullrich, who won the Tour de France in 1997, finished the rain-soaked 19-mile individual time trial from Kerzers in 38 minutes, 45 seconds. That gave him a total time of 38 hours, 21 minutes, 36 seconds. Ullrich had been third in the overall standings after Saturday's eighth stage. Gil came in ninth in the time trial to finish second overall, 24 seconds behind Ullrich. Joerg Jaksche finished third overall, 1:03 behind fellow German Ullrich. Jaksche was 10th in the final stage. Second in the time trial was Cadel Evans of Australia, 23 seconds behind Ullrich. He was followed by Angel Vicioso of Spain, 31 seconds behind.